“Naturally, my agency will reimburse the extra cost, if that’s a concern,” Spivey added.
After a moment’s hesitation, Logan nodded. “Okay.” His voice felt very dry.
Spivey took out two recording cubes, black, with tamper-proof seals, and set them into a taper. Together, they went through the ritual, establishing names and conditions, time and location. At last, with both cubes winking, the colonel settled back in his seat. “Mr. Eng, we’re interested in your theories about the incident at the Biscay tidal barrage.”
Logan blinked. He had been imagining things this might be about, from person smuggling, to waste-dumping scams, to insider trading. He traveled widely and met so many colorful types that there was no telling how many might be involved in the ceaseless, sometimes shady jockeying of governments and corporations. But Spivey had surprised him with this!
“Well, Colonel, I’d have to classify that paper more under the heading of science fiction than theory. After all, I published in a database for speculative…”
“Yes, Mr. Eng. The Alternate View. Actually, you may be surprised to learn our service keeps close tabs on that zine, and similar ones.”
“Really? It’s just a forum for crackpot ideas…” He read the other man’s look. “Well, maybe not as crackpot as some. Most subscribers are technical people. Let’s say it’s where we can publish things that don’t belong elsewhere — certainly not the formal journals. Most of the ideas aren’t to be taken seriously.”
He felt uncomfortably sure Spivey was watching his every move, taking his measure. Logan didn’t like it.
“Are you saying you think your hypotheses worthless?” the man asked levelly.
Logan shrugged. “There are lots of notions that seem to work on paper, or in Net simulations, but can’t be justified in the real world.”
“And your notion was?” Spivey prompted.
Logan thought back to the case of the missing drill rig in southern Spain — and the anchor boom that had been lifted on end at the tidal power station — both without any sign of sabotage.
“All I did was calculate how a special type of Earth movement could have caused the strange things I saw.”
“What kind of Earth movement?”
“It’s…” Logan lifted both hands parallel. “It’s like, well, pushing a child on a swing. If you shove at the right frequency, matching the natural pendulum rhythm, you’ll build momentum with each stroke—”
“I’m aware of how resonance works, Mr. Eng. You suggested the Spanish anomalies were caused by a special type of seismic resonance. Specifically, the sudden arrival of extremely narrowly focused earthquakes and corresponding gravity variations—”
“No! I didn’t say that was the cause! I merely showed such waves would be consistent with observed events. It’s an amusing idea, that’s all. I can’t really say why I even bothered with it.”
The government man inclined his head slightly. “I’m sorry I misspoke. You sound upset about it.”
“A man’s reputation is important. Especially in my field. People understand play, of course. So I was careful to make clear that’s all I was doing, playing with an idea! It’s quite another thing to say, ‘this is what happened.’ I didn’t do that.”
Spivey regarded him for a long interval. Finally, he opened a slim briefcase and pulled out a large-format reading plaque. “I’d appreciate it if you’d leaf through this, Mr. Eng, and consider what you see in light of your… playful exercise.”
Logan thought of protesting. By now his associates in the restaurant might be worried. Or they might be incoherent from alcohol or assume he’d gone off to bed…
He took the plaque. Making certain the recording cubes could read over his shoulder, he put his thumb on the page-turn button and began skimming. Silence stretched in the limo as he read. Finally, he said, “I don’t believe it.”
“Now you understand why I insisted you check my credentials, Mr. Eng, so you’ll know this is no hoax.”
“But this episode here”
“You haven’t seen the actual recording, yet. It’s much more vivid than numbers. Allow me.” The man expertly dialed the correct data page. “This was taken by a high-altitude reconnaissance blimp, above our Diego Garcia Naval Station, in the Indian Ocean.”
Depicted now in front of Logan was a moonlit seascape. Calm waters glistened under still tropical air.
Suddenly, the ocean surface flattened in eight places. Despite the angle of view and foreshortening, Logan could tell the dimples formed a perfect octagon.
As quick as the dips appeared, they suddenly ballooned outward, joined now by an outer ring of smaller bulges, twenty in all. Scale numbers ran down the side of the screen, and Logan whistled.
The hillocks collapsed again, much quicker than nor-mal gravity could have pulled them down. Forty-nine depressions replaced them this time. The center eight were now too deep for the camera to measure.
Then, suddenly, the screen erupted with light. Faster than Logan could follow, a handful of bright streaks speared upward, perpendicular to the ocean. They were gone in an instant, leaving behind a diffracting pattern of circular ripples, spreading and subsiding until at last all was still once more.
“That’s the best example,” Spivey commented. “It was accompanied by seismic activity bearing some similarity to the Spanish quakes.”
“Where…” Logan asked hoarsely. “Where did the water go?”
The colonel’s smile was distant, enigmatic. “Just missed the moon, by less than three diameters. Of course, by that point it was pretty diffuse… Are you all right, Mr. Eng?” Genuine concern suddenly crossed Colonel Spivey’s face as he leaned forward. “Would you like a drink?”
Logan nodded. “Yes… thank you. I think I need one very much.”
For a little while, despite the car’s whispering air-conditioner, he found it rather difficult to breathe.
□ Net Vol. A69802-11 04/06/38 14:34:12UT. User G-654-11-7257-Aab12 AP News Alert: 7+: Key-select: “Conservation,” “animal rights,” “conflict”:
In the ongoing, sometimes violent confrontation between the International Fish and Fowl Association and the animal rights group known as No-Flesh, a surprise development today. To the amazement of many, the Hearth Conclave of the North American Church of Gaia has intervened in favor of the world’s largest organization of duck hunters.
According to the Most Reverend Elaine Greenspan, sister-leader of Washington State and this month’s spokesper for the conclave:
“We have examined all the evidence and decided that in this case neither hunting nor the consumption of animal tissue harms Our Mother. Rather, the activities of IFFA are clearly beneficial and meritorious.”
In light of the church’s long-standing abjuration of the slaughter of warm-blooded animals, Greenspan explained:
“Our position against red meat is often misunderstood. It’s not a moral stand against camivorality, per se. There is nothing inherently evil about eating or being eaten, for that is clearly part of Gaia’s plan. Human beings evolved with meat as part of their diet.
“Our campaign has been waged because great herds of grazing cattle and sheep were destroying much of the Earth. Vast quantities of needed grain were being wasted as fodder. And finally, modified food animals such as beef steers are abominations, robbed of the ultimate dignity of wild creatures, to have a chance to fight or flee, to struggle to survive.